5 Cleveland Indians whose stock is up after first 20 games of 2021

2. Cleveland Indians OF Jordan Luplow

Jordan Luplow currently co-leads the Indians in home runs with five (with Franmil Ryes). Not sure how many were expecting that with guys like Jose Ramirez, Eddie Rosario and Reyes in the lineup, but hey, we’ll take it.

Luplow was excellent against left-handed pitching in 2019 as he hit 14 homers and posted an OPS  over 1.000…and then 2020 happened. In the truncated campaign, Luplow was awful during a time the Indians were giving any and everyone an outfielders glove.

It was a weird season and the Tribe went into Spring Training ready to give Luplow another chance. Additionally, there was talk about looking at him as an every day player, and while he’s not that yet, Luplow is getting more plate appearances against right-handed pitchers.

Two of his five  homers this year have come against righties. It’s just 14 at-bats, but he’s hitting righties well (.286, 1.190 OPS). Against lefties, he’s compiled a .229 average (.913 OPS).  Again, it’s a small sample size, but it’s better than batting zero.